Product Review: Alibi American Whiskey

Sipping whiskey out on the deck of the Fulton Steamboat Inn in Lancaster, PA.

Normally when I travel, I bring a bottle of Maker’s Mark with me. This is just my standard. It’s what I pour after I have come back to the room to start blogging about the day’s events. On a trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania this past summer, I decided to change things up. I didn’t bring anything with me. I wanted to find a whiskey in a local liquor store that I had never seen before. Something possibly not available in New Jersey. I ended up going with something called Alibi, which is an American whiskey. The label notes it is made with grain and corn, the latter of which breaks through strongly. Upon your first sip, you will taste only the corn, before your palate adjusts and you realize this is quite a smooth drink (even at 90 proof). The bottle itself is beautiful. The back contains the imprint of a dead tree, with branches spread out all over the glass. It casts a cool silhouette over the whole bottle. The price was $19.99.

Upon further research, I was surprised to find this was actually a product created to be marketed toward a younger, non-whiskey drinking clientele. A group which would get suckered into buying the whiskey based on bottle design alone, and then gradually turn themselves into a whiskey drinker. The blend itself was made to not be too strong in flavor and for use as a mixing whiskey, with a soda such as Coke or ginger ale. Could have fooled me. There is not much complexity here. It’s straightforward and fits the bill of something a newbie might find enjoyable. Snobs will probably scoff at the suggestion that this is a decent drink. I’ve only had it on the rocks, and it is nowhere near the worst whiskey I’ve ever had. The price is right. It is way better than Lexington ($28.99), which I find comparable. 3.5 out of 5 stars.